Dove Awards

Click to see a gallery of photos from the 2010 Dove Awards (this image of Jordin Sparks and Natalie Grant: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean).

One of Nashville's stalwart music awards shows is moving out: The Gospel Music Association announced Tuesday that the 42nd Annual Dove Awards, set for April 20, 2011, will move to Atlanta -- marking the first time the celebration of contemporary Christian and gospel music will be held outside Nashville.

In a statement, GMA chairman of the board Ed Leonard called the experience of attending the Dove Awards in person "incredible," and said that they wanted "to share that excitement with the people of Atlanta."

"We Atlantans are so happy to welcome the Dove Awards to Atlanta this year," he said in a statement. "How exciting to celebrate and share a night together honoring God in a city I have come to know and love."

Click to see a gallery of photos from Wednesday's Dove Awards (this image of Jordin Sparks and Natalie Grant: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean).

The 41st annual Gospel Music AssociationDove Awards showcased a segment of the music landscape clearly in transition, as relative newcomers and seeming outsiders picked up some of the night’s most high-profile honors.

However, top-selling Atlanta-based worship outfit Casting Crowns, a gospel mainstay, picked up its first artist of the year award, after multiple nominations and four consecutive wins (from 2005-08) as group of the year. For the second year in a row, fans were able to vote via text and e-mail for artist and new artist categories, with the latter going to four-piece pop band Sidewalk Prophets.

Rock unit NEEDTOBREATHE, which got its start on Christian label Sparrow Records but later migrated to mainstream label Atlantic Records for its last two full-length releases, picked up three trophies for group of the year, rock/contemporary song for “Lay ’Em Down” and rock/contemporary album for The Outsiders. NEEDTOBREATHE member Bear Rinehart picked up fourth a Dove for his work on the special event album of the year, and producer/songwriter Jason Ingram also took home four statuettes as producer of the year, co-writer and publisher on the song of the year, and co-writer on the inspirational song of the year.Continue reading →

Those four writers each placed two compositions on BMI’s 25 most performed Christian songs list. Collaborators TobyMac and Stevens won a song of the year prize for “Lose My Soul,” a song featuring Kirk Franklin and Mandisa that TobyMac released as a single. TobyMac and Stevens’ “One World” was among the most-performed songs.

Chapman’s “Cinderella” and “Yours” made the most-performed list, alongside Walker’s frequently played songs “My Deliverer” (recorded by Mandisa) and “One Life To Love” (a hit for band 33Miles).Continue reading →

Click to see a gallery of Jason Crabb and Crabb Family photos (this image of Crabb at his Hendersonville home: Sanford Myers/The Tennessean).

We haven’t seen Jason Crabb’s skills on the basketball court, but it wouldn’t be too tough to guess two aspects of his game: solid fundamentals and a firm hold on the fake out.

After all, here’s a singer who made his name as part of a Southern Gospel family act, and then, when it came time to record his self-titled solo debut, recruited two very different producers (veteran country producer Norro Wilson and one of Nashville’s funkiest cats, Tommy Sims) to craft a document best described as all over the musical map. The broadening certainly hasn’t hurt him: Crabb is up for six trophies at Wednesday’s GMA Dove Awards, including artist of the year.

That’s the best part for the former lead singer of The Crabb Family: He gets to walk around in a multitude of musical worlds right now, and he’s loving it.

“Probably a little too much, to be honest,” Crabb laughs. “A lot of people want to tell you you can only do one thing and that's it, but man, I've got so many different kinds of loves in music. It's kinda like going to a basketball player and saying, ‘You can only shoot jump shots from inside the lane’ or ‘You can only do lay-ups.’”Continue reading →

Contemporary Christian crew Tenth Avenue North is eyeing a spring release for the follow-up to its successful debut, Over and Underneath, which helped lead the band toward a new artist of the year Dove award win in 2009 and nominations in the song and group of the year categories for the 2010 Doves, scheduled for April 21 at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Tenth Avenue North's sophomore LP, The Light Meets The Dark, is due out on May 11, and leadoff single "Healing Begins" is already at Christian radio.

Over and Underneath brought about a swift rise in attention for the young band, but singer Mike Donehey said the higher profile didn't bring about a marked change in approach for the writing of Dark, which was produced by SESAC's Christian songwriter of the year Jason Ingram, Christian pop singer-songwriter Phillip LaRue and Rusty Varenkamp.

"It's been kind of crazy I guess when you think about it," Nashville-based Donehey said in a statement. "In a lot of ways, we don't feel like anything has changed. When we get up on a stage, more people are there to see us play and more people are familiar with the songs, but the objective really hasn't changed. The objective is for people to encounter truth and be changed."

The band has a long string of dates announced through the summer in support (nothing upcoming in Nashville is listed, though the band was just here last month on the Winter Jam tour, playing at the then-Sommet Center/now-Bridgestone Arena).

Click the Listen button/look on the right to give "Healing Begins" a listen.

At Thursday’s event, reigning male vocalist of the year and 2010 male vocalist nominee Heath categorized the Doves — which celebrate achievement in contemporary Christian and gospel music — as less about competition and more about celebrating each other's work.

“The first couple of years, I was so fierce and serious about this whole thing,” he said. “It’s turned into more just an honor. I know that sounds kind of clichéd and overstated but it really is. When you’re recognized for making great work, to me, it’s like, ‘OK, thank you, I’ll keep doing it.’ ”Continue reading →

Update:Based on new information/counts from the Gospel Music Association, the top nominees are as follows: Producer Bernie Herms leads with eight nominations, songwriters/producers Jason Ingram and Wayne Haun following with seven each, Jars of Clay, Skillet, Matt Maher and Jason Crabb earning six nods apiece.

The crop of honorees for April’s 41st Annual GMA Dove Awards, announced Thursday morning, is led by a name that might be less familiar to fans of the contemporary Christian and gospel music the Doves honor: Producer Wayne Haun, who takes the top spot with seven nominations (including producer of the year), is known best for behind-the-scenes work.

But the names that adorn the front of the albums and T-shirts collected by Christian music fans certainly weren’t absent at Thursday’s Dove nominee press conference at Belmont University’s Curb Café. Perennial Christian rock favorites Jars of Clay, Skillet and Jason Crabb (late of the Crabb Family) followed Haun with six nominations apiece, as did worship leader and songwriter Matt Maher, who, with the success of 2009’s Alive Again album, took bigger leaps toward Christian music’s top echelon himself.

The latter singer-songwriter has a close connection to last year’s top-nominated perennial favorite, Chris Tomlin: Maher’s pen was behind well-loved song “Your Grace Is Enough,” which appeared on Tomlin’s massively successful Arriving album.

Other acts up for big awards at the upcoming GMA Dove Awards, scheduled for April 21 at the Grand Ole Opry House, include 2009’s new artist of the year Tenth Avenue North (up for group and song of the year) and longstanding success Casting Crowns (up for group and artist of the year, among others).

Tickets to the GMA Dove Awards run $25-$200, and are available now through the Opry (www.opry.com, at the Opry box office at 2804 Opryland Drive or 1-800-733-6779) or the Ryman Auditorium box office (116 5th Ave. N.).

Grant's no stranger to the Dove stage -- this April she took her fourth consecutive top female vocalist trophy at that Awards show, and she's also co-hosted the event before. (Click here to see photos from the 40th annual event.)

Major contemporary Christian players set to take the stage as performers at the Awards show -- thought of as the Christian/gospel music market's version of the Grammys -- include Grant, Millard's band MercyMe, heavy-CCM-hitters Casting Crowns, local Christian market mainstay TobyMac, gospel voice Donald Lawrence, Jason Crabb of the Crabb Family and others.

"Hosting the GMA Dove Awards is a real honor," Grant said in a statement. "I have always been a fan of Christian music so I consider it a tremendous privilege to help shine a brighter spotlight on the message of this life-changing music, and the artists who create it. I love that it's not a night of competition, but an evening of giving honor and celebrating one another. It's really more like a family gathering that I look forward to every year."

The show is scheduled for Wednesday, April 21 of next year, again at the Grand Ole Opry House (the Awards will again be televised on the Gospel Music Channel, this time on Saturday, April 24 from 7-9 p.m. Central).

Tickets go on sale to Gospel Music Association members on Monday, Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. Central (members can call 615-277-1376). The public on-sale date is scheduled for January 19, by phone, web or in person through the Grand Ole Opry House (1-800-733-6779, www.opry.com or 2804 Opryland Drive in Nashville) or at the Ryman box office (116 5th Ave. N. in Nashville. Tickets run $25-$200.

The Awards show, which celebrates the year's best in gospel and contemporary Christian music, is set for Wednesday, April 21 2010. More detail about the event, traditionally held at the Grand Ole Opry House, is forthcoming.

The Dove Awards have generally capped off the GMA's industry-focused GMA Music Week convention, and the event will do the same in 2010, though the convention has been retooled some. The Gospel Music Association said that "a newly structured Gospel Music Week" known as GMA Dove Week will run in advance of the Dove Awards, starting on Monday, April 19 with the ASCAP Christian Music Awards and also including an "Artist Summit" and the BMI Christian Music Awards.